Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry

Mission

The Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry of the Archdiocese of Hartford advances Catholic social teaching by educating and preparing parishes to work for social justice.

Program Areas

Parish Social Ministry
We train parish leaders to integrate parish social ministry into the life of the whole parish community. We highlight the call by the U.S. Bishops to encourage every parish to involve people with the four dimensions of social ministry: direct service, justice education, advocacy, empowerment. We offer training in English and in Spanish.

Advocacy
We work for public policies on hunger, welfare policy, the environment, issues of importance to older adults and children, and in opposition to the death penalty. Parishes in the four Catholic dioceses in Connecticut share in this work through the CT Catholic Conference. We address national and international advocacy through the priorities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Catholic Relief Services
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian relief agency of the U.S. Catholic community. In the Archdiocese of Hartford, OCSJM is responsible for promoting the annual CRS collection, educating parishes about the work of CRS, and managing CRS programs such as CRS Rice Bowl and Fair Trade.

Enablement
Through the Catholic Campaign For Human Development, grants are provided to organized groups of poor people to develop economic strength and political power in their communities and to either change institutions that impact adversely on their lives or to create alternative ones. Through Cooperative Parish Sharing we raise funds from parishes which are given out as grants to needy parish and Catholic school projects.

Interfaith Collaboration
The Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry is committed to work with persons of all faiths in pursuing the goal of dignity and economic and social justice for all people.